Hope you are well. Exciting news ! This month I am on tour in Poland and Luxembourg. This November 2017 I am performing a special series of concerts called ‘The Ribbon of memory Tour – Wstega Pamieci Tour 2017’ which is dedicated to Independence Day in Poland and Remembrance Day in GB and in honour of all those who have fought for an Independent Poland over the centuries.

The Wstega Pamieci Tour concerts take place in Poland with performances in Krakow, Wroclaw and Warsaw and at the Ancien Cinema in Luxembourg and honour the 75th Anniversary of the inauguration of the Polish Home Army (1942- 2017) the Polish Home Army Veterans who initiated the Polish Resistance Memorial – Wstega Pamieci Project which will be opened at the foot of the Wawel in Krakow in May 2017.

A recent quote from a feature about The Ribbon of Memory Tour reads –

‘ It is exciting that a British musician and singer has taken such a passionate interest in the history of Poland. Katy’s concerts aim to show the continuing great friendship between Britain and Poland and the many gestures from both nations in the fields of culture, music, science, combat over the centuries. ‘

Katy Carr quote from a recent press article

‘ I am very excited to be performing the Wstega Pamieci Tour 2017′ in honour of the great heroes and heroines who fought for an Independent Poland over the centuries. I love the concept of the The Wstega Pamieci Memorial not only because it was initiated by the Polish Home Army Veterans but because it is the shape of the 2nd Republic of Poland established in 1918. You see Poland had been erased from the map of Europe for 123 years between 1795 -1918 and people fought very hard in a mammoth effort for over a century to have their country, heritage and language restored. My songs celebrate all those who fought for an Independent Poland and their bravery, culture, music and heritage should never be forgotten.’

Expect to hear songs from Katy’s Paszport (2012) and Polonia albums (2015) inspired by great Polish patriots as well as Polish patriotic songs such as Dziś do ciebie przyjść nie mogę and Biale roze.

This concert will honour the Polish intellectual elite who under the ‘Sonderaktion Krakau’ were exterminated by the Germans at the beginning of World War II. During the German occupation of Poland the ‘Intelligenzaktion,’ was a plan created by Germany to eradicate the Polish intellectual elite and intelligentsia. Invitation only.

11th November 2017 : 19:00 : Filharmonia Krakowska im. Karola Szymanowskiego, Zwierzyniecka 1, 31-103 Kraków, Poland in honour of Independence Day in Poland and Remembrance Day (GB) to commemorate the efforts of the Freedom Fighters who fought for an Independent Poland across the centuries.

This special concert event is in partnership with the Ribbon of Memory Foundation, the City of Krakow and the Narodowe Centrum Kultury. Katy Carr will perform songs she has written with the PassionArt orchestra with over 150 musicians who are based in Krakow.

A message from Alexander Smaga, architect of the Polish Resistance Memorial in Krakow.

‘It was a great pleasure and honour for me to be given the chance to participate in the special ceremony to honour the pilots of the Polish Air Force (25,000 airmen) who were flying under British command during WW2 in an event which took place at the memorial of the Polish Air Force at RAF Northolt on 2nd of September 2017. In order to commemorate the Polish and Allied pilots who flew risky air missions to occupied Poland during WW2 some special soil from the memorial at RAF Northolt was taken which will be added to the foundations of Polands Resistance memorial at the foot of the Royal castle in Krakow.

During the ceremony I had the unique opportunity to read a letter by the chairmen of the World Union of the Polish Home Army in Krakow who sent a soldiers salute to his colleagues in exile and their families in England. The commemorative event was organised by the Polish Air Force Memorial Commitee. Among the special guests who attended the ceremony were the last living airmen and her children, the ambassador of Poland, the Vice Lord of HMQ, the commander of the RAF, the Polish Airforce, the USAF and the Cheque and Slovak airforces and around 300 invited guests. On the picture : Vice Lord of HMQ, Katy Carr , Polish WW2 Freedom fighter Marzena Szejbal and the Polish Consul.’

Below – A happy and proud moment. After the ceremony holding the blessed soil taken from RAF Northolt dedicated to the cornerstone of the Allied Polish WWII Resistance Memorial at the foot of the Wawel Castle in Krakow with veteran 300 Sqdrn Land of Mazovia reargunner Stangryciuk and Katy Carr(photo taken 2nd of September 2017)

INFO about Photo below :

Katy Carr performed at this year’s Battle of Britain and the Polish Air Force Involvement in WWII commemoration event at the Ulster Aviation Society exhibition centre in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. With a unique collection of over 30 heritage and modern aircrafts, including airplanes, helicopters and aviation artefacts, this place is home to Northern Ireland’s aerial history and was a perfect location to discover the role of the Polish Air Force in the Battle of Britain and to see Katy perform. With Big thanks to For Your Freedom and Ours Foundation, Maciek Bator and the Polish Consul for securing funding for this event.

Below Katy Carr performs in a jacket worn by Captain Frederick Michael Alexander Torrens-Spence DSO, DSC, AFC (10 March 1914 – 12 December 2001) who was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm pilot in the Second World War. Torrens-Spence earned the distinction of holding commissions in the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, the British Army and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Katy was kindly given the jacket to wear as it was freezing in the hangar and it certainly gave an atmosphere to the performance.

Below Katy with the local Air Cadets reminding her of her days of an Air Cadet With Maciek Bator, Jerome Mullen, Graham Dodds, Katy Carr, Maria Golasowska and Tony Osborne.

Watching the screening of the Spitfire: The Alex Herbst Story followed by a Q&A session with the documentary director, Slawomir Ciok. WWII fighter pilot Alex Herbst – pilot from the Polish Air Force 303 & 308 RAF squadrons.

On the film set of the film about the 303 Polish Air Force Division Pilots just outside Warsaw in Poland.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAZIK ! 98 YEARS OLD THIS MONTH ! Kazik has been the biggest inspiration with regards bringing me back to rediscover my Polish heritage and roots. He was so open and understanding with me when we first met that it inspired me to dedicate my 4th and 5th albums Paszport (2012) and Polonia (2015) to the memory of those forgotten Polish WWII freedom fighters. Without Kazik I would not be singing in Polish or sharing any of these precious stories through song. Listen to the song I wrote about Kazik here Click and Share * directed by British film maker Hannah Lovell : “Kommander’s Car” Katy Carr (official music video) – YouTube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqvhgS00UdA more info in Polish here and our Documentary Film ‘Kazik and the Kommander’s Car’www.kazikfilm.com

LOVELY INTERVIEW WITH KATY CARR FROM BRISTOL LANGUAGE SCHOOL – Thank you to Alicja Zajdel

Even though you only lived in Poland for the first few years of your life, this experience has obviously had a great impact on you. Do you think of yourself as Polish? I am very proud to have Polish blood and so pleased that my Polish heritage has become a huge inspiration for my music and creativity. Poland and Polish people worldwide are my inspiration and I never want to be separated from them for such a long period ever again. I loved writing my albums Paszport and Polonia and I look forward to more Polish inspired musical projects.

In what ways, do you think this dual identity has enriched you? Are there any disadvantages?

I love being British and Polish and I see only happiness from being enriched by two nations. I have two sets of heritage to draw upon for my musical creativity and this only adds not only to the richness of my own life experience but also to my audiences. Sharing the wealth of knowledge and the friendship between Great Britain and Poland is my huge passion. I look forward to meeting many more people through my music in the forthcoming years.

You sing in both languages, but do you use Polish in your everyday life? Is it difficult to maintain it? I love speaking in the Polish language.It is a beautiful yet very difficult language to master with 7 cases and many declensions. I still have a lot to learn! I speak to the Polish Veterans of WWII and the Siberian Survivors in Polish but also to the younger Polish generations who have either just arrived in the UK or who are making their lives here. I am fascinated by how strong and resilient the Polish community is and this only adds to my fascination and love of the Polish language and her history. Listen to my song Wojtek for the two languages in harmony togetherOfficial music video for Wojtek (the Soldier Bear) by Katy Carr – YouTube

Where did the idea of singing in Polish come from? Does it help you reconnect with your heritage?

I started my rediscovery of Poland through writing a song called Kommander’s Car about the infamous escape of Kazik Piechowski, Polish boy scout from Auschwitz on June 20th 1942. When I wrote my song, I was desperate to make links with my Polish heritage but it was very difficult to make a connection. It is only through my music that I came to gain access to the Polish People and Poland that I know today. I owe everything to my music and songs that helped me carve a route to discover and share the rich and diverse history of Poland which is a wonderful and glorious nation.

You tour both in the UK and in Poland. Do you notice a difference between the audiences? Do you have a preference?

I love performing to all audiences worldwide. Recently I have visited the countries that gave refuge to the exiled Polish community after WWII. Poland was the only Allied nation to fall behind the Iron Curtain. Poles in these circumstances were not given access to Poland and were known as ‘Aliens’ – exempt from ever entering Poland again – mainly because Poland had been given over to Totalitarian Communist Rule after the Yalta Conference meeting of Hitler, Stalin and Churchill in February 1945- known as the Western Betrayal of Poland. The outcomes of the conference were kept secret but it meant many hundreds of thousands of Allied Polish military troops were left without homes after WWII. I named my recent album after the brave people of Polonia – the Latin name for Poland and dedicated it to friendship between Polish pianist and composer (later President of Poland 1919) Ignacy Paderewski and Sir Edward Elgar – the English composer who wrote a Symphonic Prelude called ‘Polonia’ dedicated to raising money for the Poles who were without a country in 1915. (Poland was erased off the map of Europe between 1795 and 1918).

We are very impressed with your knowledge of Polish history! Would you say that being away from your country of origin has actually made you more patriotic and interested in the nation’s past?

History does matter as learning about it can hopefully help future generations learn from the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately history does repeat itself and we as human beings on this little water planet continue to engage in wars and gross cruelty and suffering today which in my opinion is completely unacceptable especially during the 21st Century, which is supposed to be the age of Light. I weep at the idea that children and families are starving from hunger everyday or who are enslaved in cruelty across the planet. I would say that learning about Poland’s past has encouraged me to make connections with other communities and nations to help people worldwide raise their confidence and realise their dreams. My dream is to make people happy through my music and I hope I continue to do so for many years to come.

HURRAY! CONGRATULATIONS to our friend Franciszek Kornicki on his recent success being nominated ‘The People’s Spitfire Pilot’. We sang Happy Birthday to him on his 100th Birthday at the Palladium in Warsaw last year )))Franciszek Kornicki, the Polish pilot who took command of 308 Squadron during the Second World War has been named the winner of an RAF Museum poll to decide ‘The People’s Spitfire Pilot’.

The poll, which was hosted by The Telegraph, was set up to celebrate 100 years of the Royal Air Force in 2018. A life-sized display of Kornicki and his story will now adorn the RAF Museum’s centenary exhibition, standing alongside the iconic Spitfire VB BL614.

Kornicki fought in the No. 308 “City of Kraków” Polish Fighter Squadron RAF (Polish: 308 Dywizjon Myśliwski “Krakowski”) was a Polish fighter squadron formed in Great Britain as part of an agreement between the Polish Government in Exile and the United Kingdom in 1940. It was one of several Polish fighter squadrons fighting alongside the Royal Air Force during World War II.

With one of my favourite songwriters and poets in Poland Mieczysław Święcicki …. I am so excited to be learning his songs and also those songs that he wrote for Ewa Demarczyk … IT’S A MUSICAL DREAM COME TRUE ! ❤️❤️❤️In#piwnicypodbaranami Mietek was born in 1936

Little is known outside Poland of the Polish Home Army’s incredible achievements, history and bravery and the fact that they became the largest Underground Resistance movement during WWII. This was due mainly to the way the history of Poland was shared post WWII during the time of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War . Responsible for over 300,000 military professionals the Polish Home Army’s incredible contribution for justice and humanity was unrivalled during WWII even though all of it’s activity remained underground. The operations of the Polish Home Army included a vast web of activities including substantial military offences and actions, a professional legal law system, education and universities to continue Polish heritage, Zegota for the rescue of Jews in occupied Poland and countless other military initiatives like the Polish Elite Parachute Regiment – the Cichocemni trained in Great Britain during WWII. Some historians argue that over two million Poles were involved with Armia Krajowa activities during WWII whilst some go further in number to argue that the whole of occupied Poland took part in resistance activities- not forgetting the many foreign fighters who also fought alongside and the Polish Home Army including American, Canadian, African, Asian and European military personnel.